When Paul Ramsey asked me to join the local organising committee for FOSS4G 2007, I jumped at the opportunity. This is going to be another in a series of great conferences, and you couldn’t ask for a better location than beautiful Victoria, British Columbia.
Paul’s recent post highlights some of the progress we have been making, and I would like to point out two great opportunities for businesses and individuals wanting to become involved in this year’s conference.
First, we have been fortunate to attract some great sponsors such as Autodesk, Google and Safe Software (see Paul’s article for a complete list) but there are still some sponsorship positions (pdf) available. Apart from the tangible benefits listed, there are many reasons why you should sponsor FOSS4G. Here are two:
- Supporting open source geospatial makes good business sense. Ensuring the continued development of high quality software allows you to focus your internal resources on the core competencies that differentiate you from your competition.
- This conference has a rich history of fostering innovation in geospatial development. By participating, you will have a chance to influence this process and be in a position to take advantage of these changes in your business.
Second, the Call for Workshops has just gone out. The great hands-on workshops are a large part of what makes FOSS4G so successful. This year, the first day of the conference is dedicated to half-day workshops, and shorter 90-minute workshops will be offered throughout the conference.
If you have a topic that you would like to share with the community, we would love to hear from you. Please fill out a proposal and send it in. Presenters of half-day workshops will receive a full conference registration, and ninety-minute workshops will give you a fifty percent discount.
-J
